The Respondent, McRae, a Medicaid recipient seeking an abortion, brought a class action suit challenging the constitutional validity of the ‘Hyde Amendment’, which prohibited federal reimbursement under the Medicaid system for some abortions which were medically necessary. As established by an amendment to Title XIX of the Social Security Act in 1965, the Medicaid system …Read more

This case was an appeal by the State of Colorado (“Colorado”) and Colorado prison officials, challenging an order from the Colorado Federal District Court directing the State of Colorado to close the maximum security unit of the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City (“Old Max”). Inmate Fidel Ramos filed a complaint alleging that the conditions …Read more

Title XIX of the Social Security Act establishes the Medicaid program under which participating States may provide federally funded medical assistance to needy persons. Title XIX requires that state Medicaid plans establish “reasonable standards . . . for determining . . . the extent of medical assistance under the plan which . . . are …Read more

Petitioners challenged the constitutional validity of regulations contained in the Social Security Act (‘the Act’) of Connecticut which limited Medicaid benefits for first trimester abortions to those that are “medically necessary”. For a benefit to be paid, the regulations required the submission of a written request by the pregnant woman, a physician’s certificate of medical …Read more

The Respondent brought a class action suit alleging constitutional rights violations after her request for a nontherapeutic abortion was refused by a public hospital in St. Louis.  Doe’s inability to obtain an abortion resulted from two factors, a personally motivated policy directive by the Mayor which prohibited the performance of abortions in the city hospitals …Read more

The appellants, Henry Evaro and Memorial Hospital, brought an action against Maricopa County challenging the constitutionality of a provision in an Arizona statute requiring 12 months residence in a county before medical care is provided to an indigent person in non-emergency situations. Evaro, an indigent person, suffered from chronic asthma and bronchial illness. In June …Read more

Plaintiffs, the guardians of patients confined at Bryce Hospital, Alabama (the Hospital) and certain employees of the Alabama Mental Health Board assigned to the Hospital, requested an order of reference for an authoritative determination of standards of the adequacy of the current and future mental treatment employed by the Hospital in effecting the right to …Read more